Chinese Medicine on the causes of diseases: lifestyle

TCM causes of diseases

In Chinese medicine, the causes of diseases are as follow:

- External pathogens invasions (say what?)

- Emotions

- Weak constitution

- Lifestyle (diet, sleep, stress, exercise, drug use...)

- Environment

- Poison

- Wrong treatment (happens more often than you may think)

- Trauma (mental or physical)

Click on the cause above to understand the Chinese medicine view on each of those and learn about your own health.

Lifestyle

- Diet plays an important role in health, we all know that. in Chinese medicine, it's a little more specific than just eating healthy, wholesome and clean food. If someone feels cold most of the time, we recommend to eat warming foods: soups, teas, stews but also with spices like ginger, or cinnamon to warm the body up internally. If someone feels mostly hot, we then would talk about salads, raw foods, cooling herbs like mint, lemon, basil. Also damp food are usually the case of too much mucus in the body (constant stuffy nose, feeling phlegmy, swollen and puffy...) and so avoiding milk products, sugar and wheat would benefit the person.

- Sleep is key to a good health. The body needs it to repair the damage of stress and other daily trauma we put our body through. The best time to get some shut eye is between 10:30 pm and 7 am. So trying to go to bed earlier will help feel refresh in the morning. Insomnia has become an epidemic in the Western world but acupuncture and Chinese Medicine can definitely help. Talk to a practitioner if you're having trouble sleeping (waking up, not able to fall asleep...).

- Stress is a major cause of emotional issues (anger, frustration, anxiety...), may cause high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, headaches, neck and shoulder tension, low back ache, PMs in women, hormone imbalances, insomnia and much more. So we need to find ways to release stress. It could be reading, walking with family and friends, dancing, singing, going for a jog, yoga, meditation... Make sure to find what helps you release your stress and practice it. Acupuncture is very relaxing (yes, even with needles in the body, most of my patient fall asleep during treatment).

- Exercise can cause health issues in two ways: too much of it or not enough. Too much can create injuries or overuse of certain muscles, can stop menstruation in women and much more if taken to the extreme. Not enough exercise of course will have consequences as well: insomnia, tension, weight gain, weak muscles, constipation... So find the one exercise that you enjoy and practice it in moderation.

- Other lifestyle causes of diseases can be due to drug use, cigarettes, alcohol in large consumption, or taking too many medications.

Try to find balance in your life as often as you can and everything in moderation is quite alright.

Clara Cohen

Registered Acupuncturist in Port Moody and Coquitlam

Chinese medicine view on the causes of disease: weak constitution

TCM causes of diseases

In Chinese medicine, the causes of diseases are as follow:

- External pathogens invasions (say what?)

- Emotions

- Weak constitution

- Lifestyle (diet, sleep, stress, exercise, drug use...)

- Environment

- Poison

- Wrong treatment (happens more often than you may think)

- Trauma (mental or physical)

Click on the cause above to understand the Chinese medicine view on each of those and learn about your own health.

Weak Constitution

In Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), it is believed we're all born different and our body and mind come from our parents constitution and their health at the time of conception and during pregnancy.

Some of us are born with better health than others at the start of our life and those individuals, according to TCM, have a weaker constitution which pre-dispose them for certain illnesses. Someone born with a chronic condition is definitely weaker than a healthy baby. Also some hereditary disorders are due to a weak constitution or our parents passing on their genes to us.

So overall, like the color of your eyes, your constitution is your blue print, your DNA and cannot be changed. It is possible to keep the patient comfortable if their is an illness with weak constitution but very difficult to change it or reverse it completely.

That is the only cause of disease in TCM that is the hardest to treat or see great results from, but TCM can often slow the disease down and allow the patient a better quality of life.

Clara Cohen

Coquitlam & Port Moody Acupuncture

Chinese medicine view on the causes of disease: Emotions

TCM causes of diseases

In Chinese medicine, the causes of diseases are as follow:
- External pathogens invasions (say what?)
- Emotions
- Weak constitution
- Lifestyle (diet, sleep, stress, exercise, drug use...)
- Environment
- Poison
- Wrong treatment (happens more often than you may think)
- Trauma (mental or physical)

Click on the cause above to understand the Chinese medicine view on each of those and learn about your own health.

Emotions: Worry, over thinking, fear, shock, anxiety, anger, sadness...

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), emotions play a major role in one's health. It is important to experience and express our emotions on a regular basis. It is healthy. It becomes an issue when emotions are repressed or one specific one is long standing. If someone is very angry but never express it, the day that person blows, it affects their whole world and their own health. Their blood pressure may rise, they may get a migraine, vomit or have sleep disturbances.
Also, in the same token, one person may worry constantly for years. Usually they will have a difficult time falling asleep or sleeping at all. Their digestion will suffer with diarrhea and/or constipation, and feel exhausted from a constant over thinking mind.

Our physical body is connected to our mind and never separated. For example, if you have to speak in front of a crowd for work and you are anxious about public speaking. The mind will affect the body and your palm will sweat, you face may feel hot and red, you may be shaking or become nauseous. Is that make sense? It sure does to me.

I often tell my student about this study that was done in England a few years ago on women with uterus cancer. 86% of them had had some sexual abuse in their life. That is a huge number.
The impact of the emotions that an abused victim feels is tremendous: guilt, shame, fear, anger, worthlessness, low self-esteem...And especially if the woman did not receive psychological help, the emotions may have festered for years and finally formed cancerous cells in the area that was violated. It is a powerful study for it really reenforces TCM view on emotions and their effect one health.

Acupuncture and TCM has been proven to be very helpful in calming the mind and relaxing the patient especially when there is worry, over thinking, obsessive disorder, anger, frustration, depression and or anxiety.

Clara Cohen

Coquitlam and Port Moody Acupuncture